Omicron Subvariant Is Spreading Rapidly, WHO Imbau Long-distance Aviation Passengers Use Masks

Illustration of prospective airplane passengers wearing masks at the airport. (Wikimedia Commons/Mx. Granger)

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) has appealed to countries to consider recommendations for the use of masks for long-distance flight passengers, paying attention to the rapid spread of the latest Omicron subvariants from COVID-19 in the United States.

In Europe, the XBB.1.5 subvariant was detected in small numbers but continues to grow, WHO and European officials said at a press conference.

Passengers should be advised to wear masks in high-risk settings such as long-distance flights, WHO senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood said.

"This should be a recommendation issued for passengers arriving from anywhere, where there is a spread of COVID-19 transmission," he said.

The most contagious XBB.1.5 - Omicron subvariant detected so far - accounts for 27.6 percent of COVID-19 cases in the United States for the week ended January 7, health officials said.

It's unclear whether XBB.1.5 will cause a wave of its own global infections. Vaccines are currently protecting against severe symptoms, hospitalizations and deaths, experts say.

"The countries need to look at the basis of evidence for pre-departure testing" and if measures are considered, "travel measures should be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner," Smallwood said.

"That doesn't mean the agency recommends testing for passengers from the United States at this stage," he added.

Measures that can be taken include genomic surveillance and targeting passengers from other countries, as long as they do not divert resources from domestic surveillance systems. Others include monitoring wastewater around entry points such as airports.

The XBB.1.5 subvariant is another derivative of Omicron, the most contagious variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 and is now dominant globally. This is a branch of XBB, first detected in October, which is a recombinant of two other Omicron subvariants.

Concerns about XBB.1.5 that sparked a series of new cases in the United States and its surroundings continued to rise amid a spike in COVID cases in China after the country shifted from its typical "zero COVID" policy last month.

According to data reported by WHO earlier this month, analysis by China's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the dominance of BA.5.2 and BF.7 Omicron sublineage among locally acquired infections.

Meanwhile, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Tuesday issued recommendations for flights between China and the European Union including "non-pharmaceutical measures to reduce the spread of the virus, such as masks -wearing and testing travellers, as well as monitoring wastewater as an early warning tool to detect new variants."

The agencies recommend "random testing can also be carried out on samples of arriving passengers" and "an increase in aircraft cleaning and disinfection serving this route."

Last week, the EU's Integrated Political Crisis Response Group (IPCR) also recommended that all passengers on flights to and from China wear face masks and random testing of passengers arriving from China.

It is known, many scientists - including from the WHO - believe Chinese authorities are most likely not reporting the condition of the COVID-19 outbreak that occurred in their country.

WHO recognizes that the definition of cases from what is considered deaths from COVID-19 in China is narrow and "not necessarily the definition of cases recommended by WHO is adopted by countries," Smallwood said.